I'm finding they all make good bread. There are differences between every loaf but they are small and interesting differences. The cook, the flour, and the weather are probably bigger factors. Only a formal taste panel could judge what is best under what circumstances.

I'm finding that you can mix and match techniques from Lahey's "My Bread", Cook's Illustrated's: "Almost No-Knead Bread", and Hertzberg's "Bread in 5 Minutes a Day". It's a matter of convenience and when you have a block of time.

I've made dozens of loafs and the only loaves that I wouldn't have been proud to serve company have been from forgetting about the loaf in the oven and burning it.

I've been carefully watching the temperature of my bread during the last 15 minutes of baking with a Polder Cooking Thermometer. Read the reviews on Amazon--there can be problems with probe type thermometers. I regularly use mine during the last half hour of baking.

Here's what I'm seeing when I monitor the internal temperature:

The temperature gradually and smoothly rises until it gets within 2°F of the boiling point at your altitude. At that point, the temperature stops rising for about 10 minutes and stays constant. The absolute temperature isn't important which means an inaccurate thermometer isn't a problem as long as it's consistent. The critical factor is determining the temperature at which your thermometer levels out for roughly 10 minutes. You only have to do this once for a particular thermometer and altitude.

I've learned not to pull my bread out of the oven when the temperature first hits this plateau. It's too moist inside. If I wait until the internal temperature rises another degree, the crust can get too dark for my taste, So, I typically pull my bread 5 minutes after the internal temperature hits the plateau.

I pull the bread early if the crust is getting overly brown. A too moist crumb is much better tasting than a burnt crust.

The sweet spot (from my experience) is between 70% and 90%. If you need to hand-shape a loaf (rather than dumping the dough into a pot), the lower percentage is easier to work. Around 90%, the dough becomes unworkable without the No-Touch technique.

Jim Lahey New York Times Recipe

No weight was given for the flour or any indication on how to measure the flour was given e.g.,Scoop and sweep vs using a tablespoon to fill the measuring cup and then sweeping. King Arthur Flour says there's 1/3 cup difference! I think this uncertainty was the cause of most of the problems people had with the original recipe. When working with flour, measuring by weight is best. No-Knead bread, especially when using the No-Touch technique is very forgiving as long as you stay between 70 and 90 percent!

12.5 to 14.5 ounces flour (3 cups)

13 ounces water (1-5/8 cup)

Flour Hydration Percentage: 104% to 89.6%

Even using the No-Touch technique, it was hard to work with the bread that I made with the 104% ratio. Focaccia Style Loaf

12/17/2009

The goal of this batch of bread was to merge No-Touch No-Knead techniques with Julia Child's famous recipe for true French bread in Mastering the Art of French Cooking. This was my second attempt, and the results were close to perfect! I'd rate this bread as 4 stars--it would be 5 stars but the crust on my first attempt was crisper than this one.

I started with No-Knead dough and let it rise for 12 hours. I then performed a No-Touch knead on the dough for one minute. Effectively the dough was now at the end of "Step 2: Kneading" of Julia Childs recipe. Julia calls for 5 to 10 minutes of kneading. The no-knead 12 hour rise took the place of most of her kneading. The steps below match the numbered steps in her Pain Français (Plain French Bread) recipe. It's on page 57 Volume II (at least in the first edition) of Mastering the Art of French Cooking..

Step 1: The Dough Mixture

Make the dough using the standard No-Knead recipe: 15 oz flour, 10 oz water, 1.5 teaspoons salt, 1/4 ounce yeast. In my first attempt, I accidentally added almost 11 ounces of water, and the dough was sticky and hard to shape into loaves. Here's a photo of the dough ball at the first no-touch knead for both attempts. The too-wet dough is on the left.

Compare the height of the dough balls; the one on the left is short and squat. Compare the surfaces. The one on the left is smoother; the one on the right has ridges from the knead.

Julia recommends using an all purpose unbleached flour with a gluten level of 8 to 9% to match typical French flours. I used King Arthur Unbleached All Purpose Flour which is 11.7%. Bread Flour can be as high as 14%.

Step 2: Kneading

Let the dough rise for roughly 12 hours, and then do a No-Touch knead for about a minute to replace Julia's ten minutes of hand kneading. You can stop early, if the dough ball becomes firm and hard to work.

The unkneaded dough just after being dumped on the mat is at left; and the one-minute no-touch kneaded dough ball is at right. If the dough is too wet to form a ball like the one on the right, work in some flour a little at a time.

Step 3: First Rising 3 hours or until dough triples

Dump the dough back into your rising-container and let it rise until the dough triples in size--about 3 hours.

Step 4: Deflating and Second Rising 1.5 hours or until dough triples

Dump the dough onto your Silpat Commercial Size Baking mat and use the Zyliss Silicone Spreaderto pull the four sides of the dough into the center to form a ball. Flatten any bubbles. Four pulls on the dough are all that are required, but a few more won't hurt. Dump the dough back into your rising-container and let rise for 1.5 hours--the dough should triple.

Step 5: Cut and rest dough before forming loaves

Dump the dough onto the no-stick baking mat and flatten using the spreader and/or your hands--whichever is easier at the time. Use the spreader to divide the dough into three equal pieces. I cut the dough by pressing down with the spreader as shown in the photo. Don't use a knife on a silicon baking mat.

Cutting the dough.

Use the silicon spreader to form 3 dough balls. If one ball is larger than the others, you can pull off some dough and add it to one of the other balls. It's best to weigh the dough balls to make sure they are the same weight so that you get consistent loaves.

Cover with plastic-wrap and let rest for five minutes to relax the dough.

Step 6: Forming Loaves

The drawings and instructions in Mastering the Art of French Cooking are extremely helpful when forming the loaves.

In summary: lightly flour the mat, flatten the dough into a long oval, fold in half lengthwise, repeat. Then roll it with your hands on the mat like you would modeling clay to make a long thin cylinder. You need a little flour on the mat during this process. If you have too much, the dough slides around the mat rather than rolling. If you have a floured baker's couche, you can use it as a mat for rolling out the loaves.

I used my hands and the Zyliss Spreader--whichever seemed easier at the time. Flattening is easier using your hands, the spreader is helpful when starting to fold the dough, and rolling has to be done by hand. Fortunately, the dough isn't sticky at this point--if it is, you need to add a little flour to the dough and mat.

Rather than using Julia's technique for rising and moving the dough around, I used a baguette pan as both a rising form and a baking pan--there's no need to touch the dough once it starts the final rise. This was easier, the loaves were better looking, and it was No-Touch. The crust wasn't quite as thick and crispy as my first attempt, but it was still very good.

The dough after the first fold. Although pieces didn't pull off and stick to the mat, the dough stuck enough to pull at the surface. Per Julia, you want to form a "coagulated gluten cloak" on the surface. I added flour for the next flatten-and-roll to minimize disturbing the surface of the dough. Next time, I'll flour the mat before the first flattening.

The dough after the second fold. The amount of flour on the mat is about right.

The rolled out dough is easy to pick up and place in the pan. At this stage, it is somewhat firm and dry due to the folding, rolling, and added flour.

Below are the loaves in the baguette pan which I used as both a rising form and a baking pan. The dough has been touched for the last time. You won't have to touch the risen and fragile dough.

Make the loaves about two inches shorter than the pan--the dough will grow in both length and height. These loaves could have been a little longer and still fit the pan but this was the longest I could roll them out. The final loaves turned out to be a good size: 1-1/2 inches tall and 2-1/2 inches wide.

Cover the dough with a floured cloth and plastic wrap. Next time, I'll try to get the cloth to more closely follow the shape of the loaves. If the cloth had more contact with the bread, the crust may have turned out crisper.

Step 7: Final Rise 2.5 hours or until dough triples

Let the formed dough rise for about two and a half hours until the dough triples in size.

Thirty minutes before this rise is finished, start preheating your oven to 500°. If you're using a baking stone, it may take 45 minutes to bring the stone up to temperature. The stone helps hold the heat under the baguette pan to mitigate the temperature drop when you open the oven door.

Step 8 Unmolding risen dough onto baking sheet.

If you're using a baguette pan, you can skip this stage.

- In my first attempt, I put the couche with the unrisen dough on the baguette pan. Julia suggests using rolling pins to make a form.

- At the end of the rise, I lifted the couche off the form.

- I rolled the risen dough from the couche onto a Silpat baking mat with the intent of lifting the baking mat across the room, into the oven, and directly onto the baking stone. However, the dough was too heavy and the mat too flexible. (Two people grabbing all four corners should work.)

- After a couple of failed attempts, (which deformed the risen dough), I slid the mat and dough onto an upside down sheet pan and then slid the mat and dough onto the baking stone. In the process the dough became misshapen and deflated--thus the ugly flat loaves. This would have avoided distorting of the loaves.

Step 9 Slashing the top

Slash the tops in the traditional French way with three slashes. (Julia has very specific directions and a drawing.) My slashes are close to her specifications.

Step 10 Baking for 25 minutes

As soon as the dough is slashed, moisten the surface by spraying water on it.

On my first attempt, I placed an upside down foil steam table pan over the baking stone in the oven to function like the Dutch oven lid in Jim Lahey's recipe. I lifted the pan and heavily sprayed the loaves every three minutes the first 9 minutes of the bake. That bread had a better crust than this batch--possibly the water spray, possibly rising directly on a floured cloth (baker's clouche).

On this attempt, I made a steam oven by putting one cast-iron griddle on the oven rack above the baking stone, and another cast-iron griddle on the oven rack under the the baking stone. I preheated the oven for 40 minutes. The two squeeze-bottles below were filled with hot tap water. Immediately after placing the baguette pan and bread in the oven, I quickly squirted water onto both hot griddles filling the oven with steam. (I hope all the moisture doesn't cause problems with the oven.)

I lightly sprayed the loaves every three minutes for the first 9 minutes of baking. I also added water to both griddles each time.I kept the oven at 500° for the first 15 minutes of baking--until the bread was half browned. I turned down the heat to 400°for another 10 minutes.

The results

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12/14/2009

Bread machines have been rendered obsolete by no-knead bread and no-touch dough handling. No-knead bread is a lot better looking, better tasting and the crust is wonderfully crisp. No-touch equipment is cheaper, easier to store, easier to clean, and can be used for other cooking and baking. Start with a few critical items and then add a few more when you start baking bread several times a week.

The items listed below are must haves. The other items in the full list of no-touch bread equipment make bread making easier but can wait until you've made a dozen loaves or so. For full details on the no-touch technique and equipment, see my first two pages at right.

Dutch Oven for Baking the Dough

Any Dutch oven or heavy pot will work for your first attempts. The smaller the diameter, the taller your loaf. One that's about eight inches in diameter is perfect for recipes using 15 ounces of flour--about 3 cups. Un-enameled cast iron will work fine since it will be lined with parchment paper. Make sure the handles on your Dutch oven can withstand 500° heat. MANY CAN'T!

Silicon Kneading Tool

A heavy Silicone (non-stick) tool is used to work the dough. (It's less than a minute of shaping the dough and can't really be called kneading.) The Zyliss Silicon Spreader is the only thing I've seen that can do the job.

Non-Stick Mat

A non-stick flexible surface for working the dough is critical to the no-touch technique. No flouring is necessary, and you can pick up the mat and dump the dough onto the parchment paper. Many supposedly non-stick pastry mats aren't.

Parchment Paper for Dutch Ovens

Any parchment paper will work but these round folded circles make handling the paper easier.I use pre-cut and folded parchment circles made for Dutch ovens. It's available at some camping stores and Walmarts. It's made by Wausau Paper. If you use another parchment paper, cut it into a circle and fold it in half again and again to make a small wedge. That will help when you drop it and the dough into the 500° pot.

12/09/2009

The popularity of no-knead bread starts with Jim Lahey, of Sullivan Street Bakery in New York City. His no-knead methodology was popularized in a New York Times article in 2006. The bread is noted for it's fantastic crust. I strongly suggest reading the NYT article and recipe (links below), the Cooks Illustrated Recipe, and either the Cooks Illustrated video or magazine article.

Sullivan Street Bakery /New York Times No-Knead Technique

The technique uses a tiny amount of yeast, extra water, and a long rising time (18 hours or more), then baking in a covered container.

Cooks Illustrated Almost No-Knead Technique

The no-knead technique doesn't always yield an acceptable product for first time bakers. Cook's Illustrated developed an almost-no-knead recipe in January of 2008 that yields more consistent results. It uses vinegar and beer to improve the flavor, kneads the bread 10 to 15 times, and uses parchment paper for the final rise and the baking. Baking takes place inside an enameled cast iron Dutch oven with lid. Cooks Illustrated Almost No-Knead Recipe

The Jan-Feb 2008 issue of Cook's Illustrated magazine has a three page magazine article that is much better than the web-video.

Other VariationsThere are many no-knead variations to be found on the Web: Sourdough starter instead of yeast, whole grain flours, fruit and nuts, dinner rolls, french loaves, starting with a cool baking container, etc.

A Long Slow Bread Rise is an Old Idea--from the early days of yeast bread in the 19th Century"If the characteristics of 'homemade' bread are desired, it is found to be better to use a small amount of yeast and to keep the dough at a temperature from 55 degrees to 60 degrees for twelve to fifteen hours, than to use a larger quantitv of yeast and to cause its rapid growth. The changes which produce the desired effect are not fullv understood." --Page 37 The Chemistry of Cooking and Cleaning by Ellen Richards and S. Maria Elliot Second Edition, Revised and Rewritten 1897

My No-Touch TechniqueI generally follow the Cooks Illustrated Technique but found it difficult to knead the wet dough 10-15 times. It's a sticky proposition. After experimentation with dough scrapers, etc. to help manipulate the dough, I found that I got great results using a Zyliss Silicon Spreader and a Silpat Silicone Baking Mat. Using them, my hands never touch the dough and it's easy! The Zyliss spreader works better than spatulas because it is much stiffer and doesn't bend when mixing the dough.

I've had a Silpat 11-5/8 x 16-1/2 inch silicon baking mat for several years. The dough doesn't stick to it but it's a little small. I now use a Silpat Commercial Size Baking Liner which is approximately 24 3/8 x 16 3/8. This photo shows the small amount of dough that sticks to the Silpat after kneading the dough and dumping it off. I didn't do any scraping!

This video shows how quick and easy it is to do a one minute No-Touch Knead. There's nothing magical about one minute--30 seconds is often enough to punch out large air bubbles and shape the dough.

An Extra No-Touch Knead

Both the original and the Cooks Illustrated techniques tend to yield bread with large holes which some people like and some don't. I sometimes add a no-touch knead 12 hours into the 18 hour rise to help get a more consistent crumb structure with smaller holes. It depends on how I'm going to use the bread. I don't want large holes in a loaf that I plan to use for tuna salad sandwiches. This additional knead tends to increase the height of the final loaf. The No-Touch technique is so easy that the extra knead only takes a minute plus another minute to rinse off the spreader and baking mat.

Note: The extra knead to knock down air-holes is much more important in the summer. I keep the house at 66° in the winter and 76° in the summer. This makes a huge difference in how fast the bread rises, the texture of the bread, and the size of the holes. The winter bread is better. Adding 25% to 50% whole wheat flour also helps with the summer texture issue.

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